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iPhone 6 delayed until next year by production issues, claims analyst

Rumours are gathering pace that Apple could postpone the launch of the iPhone 6 and low-cost iPhone 5S, after a second analyst testified to looming delays caused by production problems.

According to Peter Misek, an analyst at Jeffries, the unspecified manufacturing challenges mean that the iPhone 6 – the unofficial title of the next upgrade of Apple’s standard, full-priced smartphone - may not appear until next year.

The situation with the iPhone 5S isn’t as grave, it seems. But the way Misek tells it, the cheaper handset will still miss its mooted June/July due date and won’t show up until the fourth quarter of the year.

He told StreetInsider: "iPhone 5S is having preproduction issues with mass production at least a month or more away. This combined with the publicly discussed delay of iOS 7 puts July availability at risk.

"We continue to believe there is almost no chance the iPhone 6 launches in CY13 [calendar year 2013] due to supply chain issues."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Misek also anticipates that the iPad mini refresh will be affected by manufacturing glitches. The result is that it is unlikely to arrive this quarter and even if it does, supply shortages will arise due to “yield issues of the new on-cell retina screen technology," he claims.

Jeffries’ man’s gloomy forecast, which he posits spells two consecutive below-par quarters for Apple, comes after Ming-chi Kuo of KGI Securities also claimed to have discerned evidence of delays to the tech giant’s 2013 product pipeline.

Kuo cites the development of fingerprint sensor as one of the key stumbling blocks affecting all three devices and blames the move from premium materials to a plastic shell for what he claims will be the behind-schedule appearance of the iPhone 5S.

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